Land is Power. Land is Liberation. Land in The Commons.

40 Acres. 40 Cities. Juneteenth, 2017.

We will honor those we've lost by fighting for the world we can build together, the world we know is possible, the world we deserve, and the world we so desperately need.

On Juneteenth 2017 (Monday, June 19th) Black people across the country will be taking back land and reclaiming space, from vacant lots to empty school buildings. We are taking back land that should be used for the good of the people; land that has historically been denied access to Black people. Through these actions we will confront the institutions that have been built off the extracted wealth of Black bodies and Black land and the individuals who have profited from them.

Why June 19th
Juneteenth is our time to be celebrate our formal emancipation from chattel slavery and to remind ourselves that we still ain’t free. It is a time to recognize all we have done for ourselves, all we have built for ourselves, all we have given the world and all of our resilience At the same time, we remind ourselves that we must continue the fight for true reparations that includes both making amends for past harm and repairing our relations so that such harm doesn’t continue and never happens again.

Why Land?
Land is essential in the fight for self-determination and liberation for Black folks. The Call to Reclaim is an intervention to shift the national narrative to incorporate both reparations from a land-based lens as well as to make the connections between land and liberation for Black folks. We see Black folks collectively engaging in land reclamation with the goal of shifting our relationship to the land, engaging in healing while creating hubs for movement work to be housed, cultivated and birthed. We believe Black folks, in this moment, can call on our Maroonage legacy to support the creation of Black safe spaces.

The Black Land and Liberation Initiative is a vision, strategy and training program grounded in black liberation and anchored by black leadership. Our aim is to develop diverse and interdependent strategies that move us away from the current extractive economy which depends on the violent enclosure of land, labor, culture, power, wealth and spirit. We are asserting the fundamental right to the resources required to create our own productive, dignified and sustainable livelihoods through our own free labor and self-governance. Key among those resources is land. We will co-create strategies for transformation which are grounded in a long-term vision, guided in the resilience, culture, and creativity of our ancestry, rooted in our sovereignty, and which we can begin putting into place NOW.

Two years ago, the Movement for Black Lives continued in the tradition of civil disobedience and direct action to reclaim the narrative of the Civil Rights Movement from corporate America, Hollywood, and others bent on sanitizing Black history rooted in radical tradition. #ReclaimMLK is a call to connect our contemporary movements, and to eschew respectability in order to embrace the radical courage of our people in the present. Today, as many ask us to “wait and see” and “respect” politicians aimed at hurting us, that original call is even more urgent.

The Movement for Black Lives includes a number of organizations, individuals and networks focused on a hopeful and inclusive vision of Black joy, safety and prosperity. That means freedom from violence and economic inequality, as well as the freedom to realize our greatest dreams.